Careers in STEM Archives - Page 6 of 7

Applications are now open for our life-changing scholarship at Birmingham City University.

Each year, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust fully fund an undergraduate degree at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, which covers over 20 different courses across computing, digital technology, engineering and the built environment. Now in its seventh year, the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship has already funded six young people from the region through their degrees at Birmingham City University – which originally started as the Young Innovator Prize in 2015.

The competition is open to applicants aged 17 and over within the West Midlands Combined Authority, who are looking to start a qualifying degree in September 2021. To apply, they need to download and complete our quick and easy application form from our website by answering four questions. They will then submit their completed form to [email protected] by Sunday 31st January 2021. We will invite five applicants to a final assessment day in March 2021 before deciding a winner.

Who can apply?
Applications are only being accepted from students living in the West Midlands Combined Authority, who cannot already have or currently be studying an undergraduate degree. The scholarship only applies to a qualifying course at Birmingham City University. For further information, check out the rules section.

Why should they apply?
All finalists will benefit from the programme with opportunities that can kick start their career in science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM). One person will get a fully funded degree – which means they won’t pay their undergraduate tuition fees. They’ll also have several opportunities to develop through networking, events and industry links provided through Millennium Point. All finalists receive skills development and training to build their confidence before the live final. Following the competition, they can become an alumnus of the programme and benefit from a range of opportunities such as mentoring, work placements and networking.

Why do we do this?
Birmingham and the West Midlands is teeming with unfettered STEM talent. Now, more than ever, young people need our support and encouragement for them to unlock their potential. The scholarship is one of several ways we, as a charitable trust, support the growth of STEM industries in the region and do our bit to secure the future and economic growth of an area and a community that has been designated the largest hub for science and innovation outside of London. For more information on how you can get involved please visit this page.

Get started
If you or someone you know is interested, head over to millenniumpoint.org.uk/scholarship and start the application.

Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands. Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.

Organisations within the West Midlands Combined Authority have just one week left to apply for a grant from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust to support their science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education projects. Not-for-profits, schools and charities can apply for funding from £1,000 up to £20,000 from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust to fund their STEM projects starting in September 2021. Projects can be activity focussed or for the purchasing of resources and materials which enables STEM-related education to children or communities. With the deadline fast approaching, we are urging organisations not to miss out on this important funding opportunity.

Applications close on Monday 30th November at 5pm.

How do you apply?
Applicants will need to download and complete the application form on the Millennium Point website. The completed application should be submitted to [email protected] before 5 pm on Monday 30th November 2020.

Since 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has donated over £969,000 through its annual grants process to a diverse range of projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities and museums. This year Millennium Point awarded £560,000 to fund over 60 projects across the region. Projects funded include ‘STEM stars’ from Aston Villa Foundation, a programme which engages young people in coding using football; and ‘Sensory STEM’ from Longwill School for the Deaf, Northfield, and a programme teaching the science of rollercoasters to children with illnesses, which will make science more visual and accessible to their pupils through science-based equipment and an enhanced curriculum.

Where does the money come from?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust owns the 46,450 sqm landmark Millennium Point building on Curzon street in the eastside of Birmingham City Centre (opposite the future Curzon Railway). Millennium Point is “COVID Secure” and has 17 versatile event spaces capable of holding a variety of events from meetings to formal dinners. Profits from our commercial activity as a landmark public building and multi-award-winning conference and events venue feedback into the charitable trust, enabling it to donate and invest in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives. The grants scheme is our flagship initiative alongside the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship which funds at least one young person’s undergraduate degree each year at Birmingham City University.

Head over to our grants page and start your application. Applications close at 5 pm on Monday 30th November 2020.

Each year Millennium Point Charitable Trust give hundreds-of-thousands in grants to schools, charities and not-for-profits in Birmingham and the wider region. These grants fund projects, resources and activities which enhance education of science, technology engineering and maths (STEM) education. While applications for 2021 are open now, we look at how a grant from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust changed one primary school for the better.

Great Bridge Primary School – “Lego WeDo” Project
Great Bridge Primary, Tipton, is a large primary school with over 500 students. The school sits in an area of known deprivation within the region. Like many of its kind, the school suffers from limited funding which means a restricted programme to engage pupils in the opportunities of STEM learning. In 2019, they successfully applied for a grant from the Millennium Point Trust to change this.

Their application sought to enhance their teaching and learning within computing and coding which would expand their currently limited curriculum. The grant-funded 17 LEGO WeDo sets, for coding lessons at the school alongside resources to help train staff in how to use the equipment. “LEGO WeDo” are sets designed for primary school classrooms comprising of an assortment of physical LEGO building components, electronics and accompanying software for desktops or mobile devices. With the kits, the pupils at the school can build physical LEGO models including tilt and movement sensors and motors then control them via code they build themselves in the dedicated LEGO WeDo software programme. Students would then be set real-life scenarios in which to come up with models and code that would suit, such as creating a science rover to explore a radioactive setting or spy bots detecting movement.

What was the impact?
Now the school benefits from an engaging computing curriculum which is inspiring their students to pursue STEM learning previously unobtainable. Over 120 Year 5 and 6 pupils benefited from the programme. Each 2-hour lesson developing their computer and coding literacy alongside transferable skills such as problem-solving, teamwork and communication. Most significantly, the project has created a much stronger enthusiasm for STEM subjects, with the school reporting an increase in student performance. Similarly, several members of staff also benefited from the project which improved their confidence with computing and coding, allowing for them to set more engaging and “outside-of-the-box” tasks for the pupils as their confidence with the equipment grew.

Judith Bedford, Computing Curriculum Leader for Great Bridge Primary Comments:
“Enhancing the computing curriculum for upper Key Stage 2 at Great Bridge has had an immediate impact. The children who have taken part in the initial part of the project have had the opportunity to see how coding can be used to control a range of physical mechanisms and relate this to developing knowledge of coding in real-life scenarios […] As a school, we will not look back on our Computing curriculum but instead, this project has made us look to the future and consider how we can inspire children to engage with STEM.”

This is just one example of how a grant from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust can help make a difference to schools in the region. Applications are now open for 2021 and close on 30^th November 2020. For further information visit millenniumpoint.org.uk/grants

Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint. Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands.

Organisations within the West Midlands Combined Authority can now apply for a grant from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust to support their science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education projects. Not-for-profits, schools and colleges can apply for funding from £1,000 up to £20,000 from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust to fund their STEM projects starting in September 2021. Projects can be activity focussed or for the purchasing of resources and materials which enables STEM-related education to children or communities.

Since 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has donated over £969,000 through its annual grants process to a diverse range of projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities and museums. This year Millennium Point awarded £560,000 to fund over 60 projects across the region. Projects funded include ‘STEM stars’ from Aston Villa Foundation, a programme which engages young people in coding using football; and ‘Sensory STEM’ from Longwill School for the Deaf, Northfield, which will make science more visual and accessible to their pupils through science-based equipment and an enhanced curriculum.

Head over to our grants page and start your application. Applications close at 5 pm on Monday 30th November 2020.

Young people aged 18-25 in the West Midlands can benefit from a six-month environmental leadership programme which is completely free. The programme is being offered by UpRising, an outstanding youth support organisation that offers a range of leadership, mentoring and employability programmes that help young people become leaders and better reflect and represent the communities they serve.

Uprising is an outstanding Youth Organisation offering a range of opportunities for young people to level up

What’s the programme?
The Environmental Leadership Programme is a free 6-month online green leadership programme for 18-25-year olds. It includes a series of virtual workshops and sessions designed to help participants develop the knowledge, skills and networks they need to become green leaders. Participants will also receive personal and professional development support during their time on the programme. All sessions will be held every Tuesday at 6-8 pm on Zoom.

Take part in expert-led, online workshops on topics like the green economy, creating a theory of change and media training
Learn how environmental change is made on a local, national and global level, directly from the people who are living and breathing it
Design and run an online environmental social action campaign
Be matched with a professional mentor

Who is eligible?
The programme is open to 18-25-year-olds who are living, working or studying in the West Midlands.

How to apply
Applications for the programme are now open and you are encouraged to apply as soon as possible in order to avoid disappointment. The application form takes 10 minutes to complete and can be completed here. Alternatively, you can find out more about UpRising and their range of exciting programmes on their website here.

This is a fantastic opportunity for young people to learn new STEM skills relating to the environment as well as shape themselves as future leaders within the West Midlands. For further news relating to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in the West Midlands keep following our blogs at www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/news

We’re delighted to announce the latest recipients of the Millennium Point Charitable Trust grants initiative.

Building on the continued success of the programme, The Millennium Point Charitable Trust received 170 eligible applications from not-for-profit organisations, schools and colleges from across the West Midlands region – a 55% increase from the last round of funding in 2019. This year we have granted more than £560,000 to STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) projects and initiatives across the region. Projects funded include ‘STEM stars’ from Aston Villa Foundation, a programme which engages young people in coding using football; and ‘Sensory STEM’ from Longwill School for the Deaf, Northfield, which will make science more visual and accessible to their pupils through science-based equipment and an enhanced curriculum.

What’s the Millennium Point Trust’s Grants initiative?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust’s Grants initiative provides funding annually to not-for-profits, schools and colleges across the West Midlands. Applicants can apply for up to £20,000 to fund their STEM-related project providing they meet the criteria and can demonstrate a measurable impact in STEM education. Since its launch in 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has donated over £969,000 to successful recipients funding a diverse range of projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities and museums.

Where does the money come from?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust owns the 46,450 sqm landmark Millennium Point building on Curzon street in the eastside of Birmingham City Centre (opposite the future Curzon Railway). Profits from our commercial activity as a landmark public building and multi-award-winning conference and events venue feedback into the charitable trust, enabling it to donate and invest in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives. The grants scheme is our flagship initiative alongside the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship which funds at least one young person’s undergraduate degree each year at Birmingham City University.

To learn more about our events and conference venue or how booking with us can widen your company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), please get in touch.

When is the next round of funding available?
Information on the next round of applications will be made available soon, you can register your interest by emailing [email protected] or by keeping a watch on our dedicated grants & funding page. As the Millennium Point Charitable Trust, we are constantly reflecting and improving our projects to ensure they stay relevant, accessible to those who benefit from them and impactful to STEM in the region, for further information on the wider charitable operations, opportunities available or to get involved, please get in touch.

Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands. Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.

The next round of applications for School of Code’s free remote Bootcamp is closing on 3^rd August.

What is it?
Founded by Dr Chris Meah in 2015, the School of Code aims to teach people programming skills in a free, immersive short course designed to address the UK’s growing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills gap. Similar to Millennium Point’s own scholarship competition, the School of Code Bootcamp seeks to provide opportunities to address the 175,000 shortfalls in skilled STEM workers by eliminating barriers, such as money, to show people that it is never too late to start a career in STEM.

How does it work?
The Bootcamp runs for 16 weeks and starts on 21^st September 2020 and is open to anyone interested in a career in coding. This course will be conducted remotely online and you do not need to have any prior coding experience. The Bootcamp leaders work with you from coding novice to professional developer and links you to hiring businesses on completion of the course. To be eligible you need to meet a few simple criteria including being in a West Midlands Combined Authority postcode and able to attend remote lectures between 9 am – 5 pm weekdays for the duration of the 16 weeks. This is a perfect opportunity for people who have lost their jobs or are on furlough who are looking for a career-changing opportunity.

Remote Bootcamp — Image Credit: School of Code

The course itself includes a myriad of opportunities to grow and develop your tech skills, from hands-on workshops, mentoring from professional software experts, soft skills development, industry talks and networking as well as job placements at the end of the Bootcamp.

How can I apply?
The application is quick and easy. Head over to schoolofcode.co.uk/apply and fill out the quick and easy online form before 3^rd August 2020. If you are successful, then you will start your 16-week intensive course on 21^st September.

Why are we supporting this?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust contributes over £5million each year to support the growth of STEM in the West Midlands. Recent reports have identified the region as a hotbed for science and innovation, with a high population of SMEs in STEM industries such as digital, tech and engineering. We firmly believe that the future of the West Midlands lies in the growth of STEM industries. To secure this future, we must collaborate, celebrate and support organisations like ourselves and the School of Code, who are working to address the STEM skills gap, raise the profile of STEM skills and careers; and increase diversity and inclusion in STEM-related industries and education.

Find out more from the School of Code by visiting their website now. To learn more about the work of the Millennium Point Charitable Trust, please visit our dedicated page.

Today is International Women in Engineering Day and we’re here to give you a quick lowdown on what it is and why it is important.

WHAT IS INTERNATION WOMEN IN ENGINEERING DAY?
International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) is an annual day of celebration which highlights the achievements of women in Engineering today and in the past. It’s also a day of action where schools, businesses and communities across the globe host events that celebrate and encourage women into Engineering. For more information, resources and news please check out the official INWED website here.

(Video Credit: INWED on Youtube)

WHAT IS IT TO MILLENNIUM POINT?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust contributes more than £5m back into the West Midlands region through projects, events and initiatives. We work with schools, businesses, charities and not-for-profits to facilitate partnerships and lead the conversation on STEM in the region.

Our commitment to STEM includes reducing the skills gap and increasing inclusivity and equality within STEM education and industries. International Women in Engineering day is an important part of celebrating the work and livelihood of women who are changing the landscape of STEM – and we intend to do our part.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO RECOGNISE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING?
That’s a big question. It forms part of a wider conversation covering a myriad of subjects and issues well beyond the purpose of this blog. However, it relates to the STEM skills gap. As of 2018, there is a shortfall of 173,000 skilled workers as 89% of businesses struggle to recruit. On average the shortage is costing businesses £1.5bn a year and hinders the economic growth of the UK.

Part of the problem is the lack of diversity and inclusion in STEM. Historically, STEM industries, particularly in engineering, have not been inclusive to women. According to Engineering UK 2018, 12.37% of all engineers are women in the UK. In education, only 46.4% of girls 11-14 would consider a career in engineering compared to 70.3% of boys. Add into the mixed-race, gender and sexuality and the figures are even lower.

What we see is a loss of potential talent through conditions which marginalise key groups like women in pursuing engineering. Events such as INWED and organisations like the Millennium Point Charitable Trust create opportunities which encourage change and support businesses and educators to create more inclusive environments; attracting more skilled women to step into those currently empty roles and reduce the skills gap.

WHAT CAN I DO?
Check out these websites:
These websites have information about INWED as well as general information, stats and useful resources on how to get involved and encourage more women into engineering.

Women’s Engineering Society
International Women in Engineering Day
STEM Learning

We also recommend checking out the 2019/2020 regional skills plan from the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Celebrate the past:
Learn about pioneering women in engineering like Sarah Guppy (1770 – 1852), Alice Perry (1885 – 1969) and Dorothy Donaldson Buchanan (1899 – 1985) among others. They are shown in order from left to right below.

Support the future:
Actively seek women currently in engineering roles and ask about what they do and their journey. Learn first-hand what it is like to be a woman in engineering in 2020. Similarly, talk about engineering with girls – whether that’s your daughter, your niece or a friend’s daughter.

THE MILLENNIUM POINT SCHOLARSHIP
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust fully funds one undergraduate degree each year at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment. At the time of writing, we have two female engineers who have picked up the prize. If you or someone you know is looking to pursue a degree in engineering then apply over on our scholarship page.

Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.

Experts at Birmingham City University believe an £11.27bn investment in construction and a series of strategic decisions around the new home building can kick start the UK’s economic recovery and deliver a £33bn return for the Government.

Experienced regional economist Dr Steve McCabe and construction expert Mike Leonard have produced the Build Back Better: Covid-19 Economy Recovery Plan which features a blueprint for a safe return to construction, a set of recommendations to help stimulate demand for new homes and home improvement, and details on how to build essential infrastructure and train a new generation of skilled workers – acting as a catalyst for growth and delivering income for HMRC.

How would this work?

The plan, which follows a clear instruction from Prime Minister Boris Johnson that those in construction and manufacturing should now return to work, also calls on the Government to stand by its commitment to “do everything it takes” to fight the virus and support the UK economy, by investing £11.27bn in a wide-reaching programme, designed to create mass employment and produce a £33 billion return.

Authored by Birmingham City University’s Dr Steve McCabe, Associate Professor at the Institute for Design and Economic Acceleration and Mike Leonard, Visiting Professor of Manufacturing and Construction and founder of the Get Britain Building campaign, the hard-hitting and wide-ranging plan brings together all sectors of the construction industry for a solution-led approach.

What’s the proposed plan?

The full report can be downloaded here. Recommendations and observations in the plan include:

A phased return to work following specific guidelines can ensure the protection of construction sites during a pandemic
Small housebuilders, often highly efficient and providers of local employment and procurement must be given encouragement
Address fuel poverty through direct intervention by local authorities using local companies
Construction can offer long term skilled employment opportunities that can act as a catalyst in achieving inclusive economic growth
Provide incentives and highlight environmental benefits for consumers to replace inefficient and outdated gas boilers
30,000 new social houses built per year for the next three years will address living standards, mobility and some shortfall
Proposed Building Regulation changes should be delayed in light of exceptional circumstances posed by pandemic
Construction must be made more attractive as a career choice to young people through regional marketing campaigns

Of particular focus in Build Back Better: Covid-19 Economy Recovery Plan are SMEs, who dominate the sector, with a suggestion that UK Plc fully engages such businesses in order to build the infrastructure and new homes the UK needs, alongside investments to deal with fuel poverty and the upgrading of existing housing stock to meet the net-zero 2050 obligations.

What else do local experts say?

McCabe and Leonard – both based in the UK Midlands, an area KMPG has assessed as likely to be worst hit economically by the pandemic – also make strong recommendations to delay the introduction of non-safety related building regulations and provide a range of incentives to stimulate consumer demand, accelerate training and increase apprenticeship opportunities.

Mike Leonard, who is also CEO of Building Alliance, said, “History tells us that the construction industry is the tried and tested solution to drive economic recovery, not least due to the fact we manufacture the vast majority of building materials in the UK which provides resilience, skilled jobs and fast returns on investment. The upstream and downstream jobs in manufacturing, architecture, planning, engineering, distribution and construction, creates an unrivalled multiplier that can achieve inclusive growth, building back better and helping to rebalance our economy. Saving lives must remain our priority but we now have the signal to begin to safely unlock and begin the long path to economic recovery. Construction and the building materials manufacturers are now returning to work with the proper safeguards in place. We must now “Get Britain Building” and “Get Britain Working” delivering the scale of economic multiplier the county needs to bounce back stronger.”

Inward investment is key

Research carried out in 2018 by Birmingham City University and The Building Alliance calculated that building 300,000 homes a year using, as much as possible, British-made building materials and local builders, would generate an economic ‘uplift’ of more than £90 billion for the UK.

Dr Steve McCabe said, “Covid-19 has resulted in the loss of over 50,000 lives. The Government, quite rightly, locked the nation down to reduce the spread of the virus. However, recently published ONS (Office for National Statistics) data for GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in March clearly demonstrates that effectively closing down the economy through ‘lockdown’ has caused profound economic shock. It’s estimated that at least £2bn a day is being lost during the pandemic. The overall cost to the UK economy will exceed £300 billion and, depending on the speed of recovery, could be significantly higher. As and when it is safe to do so, a return in construction activity, as well as the building materials manufacturing supporting it, will underpin a fast and effective way to begin the process of recovery from what is the greatest shock to the UK’s economy in living memory.”

Millennium Point is the home of Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built-Environment. Additionally, we are proud partners collaborating on the Millennium Point Scholarship initiative which promotes STEM higher education in the region with a fully-funded scholarship each yeat at the faculty.

Scholarship 2020 Finalists (From Left to Right) Kallum Wright, Chloe Copeland, Shennice Talburt, Lauren Davies, Amber Kelsey.

Students from the University of Birmingham spearheaded a fully online, people-focused hackathon, Hack Quarantine, which brought people together virtually from across the globe to use their skills to help combat the issues the world is facing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wait, what’s a hackathon?
It’s not about hacking into a system. A hackathon is an invention marathon bringing together people of all backgrounds and skill levels to build a project related to technology in a short space of time. It’s “hacking” a problem or a challenge together while learning from peers and the process itself.

Millennium Point has previously hosted several hackathons in our award-winning venue including HacktheMidlands, supported through our charitable trust.

HacktheMidlands opening ceremony in Millennium Point’s 354 seat Auditorium

What happened?
Taking place between 23^rd March and 16^th April, Hack Quarantine brought together more than 3,500 skilled learners and workers globally across science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The event was organised by local computer science students primarily from the University of Birmingham. Participants signed up via the developer’s blog and received updates, socialised and mentored each other primarily through Discord, a popular voice and messaging platform (VoIP) initially designed for online multiplayer gaming.

Participants from 153 countries joined forces in groups of up to four to create a variety of projects from apps to software that tackled obstacles across four “tracks”:

Supporting people quarantined or at risk
Tech and Health
Remote working
Improving awareness and behaviour

More than 250 projects and 130 demo videos were submitted to the Hack Quarantine team who awarded the best in each track among other accolades.

In addition to the hack itself, the team also delivered over 70 talks, workshops, games and even a pose party over streaming platform Twitch to educate and entertain participants throughout the marathon event. Initially watched by over 45,000 people, all of this has been archived and can be viewed over on their YouTube.

Who was behind it?
The event was organised by Birmingham resident and Leeds undergraduate Jacklyn Biggin and a University of Birmingham second-year undergraduate Will Russell.

The event was organised by local Birmingham students Will Russell (Left) and Jacklyn Biggin (Right)

“It was an incredible experience”, comments Will Russell, co-event organiser.

“With in-person hackathons postponed all over the world, we wanted to create an online community for people to continue to learn, build and share during this pressing time. We recognised there were a lot of problems surrounding COVID-19 and wanted to help the community build solutions to tackle them.”

Jacklyn and Will were supported by a team comprised primarily of students including PhD student and founder of local hackathon, HacktheMidlands, Tom Goodman and fifth year undergraduate and regional coordinator for oSTEM incorporated, Avery Cunningham both of whom joined the team as Science Leads.

Additionally, the global event was developed and delivered in partnership with more than 50 STEM organisations from across the world.

Will comments: “It was an inexplicable feeling seeing people from all over the world come together for a common cause. We really didn’t know what to expect with very little time to plan but were overwhelmed by the response from people and organisations and the sheer quality of submissions – it was incredible!”

West Midlands is a hotbed for STEM talent

Birmingham and the West Midlands is a hotbed for STEM talent. A joint deep dive report by Birmingham City University and the Regional Observatory surmised that Digital Technology alone will bring £2.2 billion to the West Midlands economy by 2025. A figure supported in no small way by the growth of an emerging youth market like the budding talent behind Hack Quarantine.

Young people are the driving force behind digital tech in the West Midlands (Image Credit: HacktheMidlands)

“We received incredible support and participants from a number of organisations and institutions in the West Midlands.” Comments Science Lead at Hack Quarantine and PhD student Tom Goodman. “These included HackTheMidlands, the BCS (through the Birmingham Branch), and the University of Birmingham.”

“One of the huge challenges we faced was getting people in STEM (beyond technology) involved in the event – unlike standard hackathons, we quickly realised a significant need to engage with scientists from across the spectrum.”

Organisations like HacktheMidlands, BrumSciComm, oSTEM incorporated and University of Birmingham’s own Institute of Microbiology and Infection supported the Hack Quarantine team in recruitment and promotion in the wider scientific community.

“Through the support of these fantastic local organisations, we were able to mobilise a swathe of motivated and driven scientists, programmers, engineers, and others, to get involved with the event. We really wouldn’t have been able to do quite so much without the supportive and motivated STEM community here in the West Midlands.”

What happens now?
All submissions can be found on the devblog which is now being used as a platform for governments and frontline organisations worldwide to utilise.

Any organisations wishing to use or build-upon the projects submitted as part of the hackathon can contact the organisers or developers directly through the website.

This blog was written as part of Millennium Point’s charitable objectives we’re publishing stories to highlight individuals and organisations who support the growth of Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in the region. If you have a story you would like us to cover, please get in touch.

Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.